Category: Culture

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Cultural Misappropriations

fresh sunrise at mountain I sometimes find myself musing over what I am allowed to do nowadays. How do I avoid violating the new tenants of politically correct purity? I love Lasagna but ahime’ (alas), I am not Italian, I enjoy certain rap music, but I’m not from the hood. I do have a lot of Irish in me, but I don’t dance a jig, play the bagpipes or drink. Before you even suggest it, nobody wants to see my legs in a kilt.

One of the many great offenders of the modern politically righteous is Cultural Appropriation. For those who may not know, Cultural Appropriation occurs when someone from one culture says, does, or wears something that was originated by a different culture. Continue reading “Cultural Misappropriations”

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Sinner to Saint in 30 Minutes or Less

Close up of a young african sportsman adjusting smartwatchA quick survey of the societal landscape provides mounting evidence that we are living in a post-Christian culture. Every day a virtual flood of secularism, atheism, humanism, hedonism, and a plethora of other “isms” assault our spiritual immune systems and work to infect us, our families and our churches.

Dr. Pete Sulack says, “Germs don’t make you sick, weakened immune systems make you sick.” The same can be said about culture. Culture cannot infect us if our spiritual immune system is strong. If it is weak, however, there are a vast number of ways we find ourselves in spiritual decline. Continue reading “Sinner to Saint in 30 Minutes or Less”

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Do You Know Any Cretans?

Have you ever been called a Cretan? If so, it wasn’t meant as a compliment.

In the small, often-overlooked book of Titus, the Apostle Paul provides instructions to his young protégé. Paul had left Titus behind on the isle of Crete to complete the work of establishing and organizing the newly formed church. He was to appoint elders and establish order throughout the over 3,000 square miles of varied terrain. Continue reading “Do You Know Any Cretans?”

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Peace Be Still

Boat sailingAn easy metaphor for our current reality is a boat on a storm-tossed sea. A graphical representation of that metaphor could be painted as miles of ocean surrounding a tiny boat that is tilting to one side about to be engulfed by a large wave, as torrents of rain pour from above. Such a picture would provide an observer a singular perspective of the dangers of the storm and the isolation and vulnerability of the vessel.

Unfortunately, such a picture would not represent our modern perspective. That view is too far removed from the actual experience; the sheer terror of turmoil and danger; the pure adrenaline of the moment and the filters of our past experiences. No, our perspective is painted from the boat itself. We are often plagued not only with the fears we know, but also the ones we do not. Mental images of jagged rocks just beneath the surface, vessels and other dangers just beyond our ability to see, circling sharks awaiting their next meal. We are driven by our deepest fears as we desperately cling to some semblance of hope in a future where we can survive.  Continue reading “Peace Be Still”

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Narrow-minded? Think Again!

gatewayWhat would you say if someone approached and asked you if you are narrow-minded? Most of us would instinctively and impulsively respond, “Absolutely not.” But, perhaps we should re-consider our answer.

The phrase “narrow-minded” often conjures up all kinds of negative feelings and undesirable nouns to go with it: Bigot, Homophobe, Misogynist, Islamophobe, and Racist just to name a few. We have been conditioned to believe that the more open our mind is, the better person we are. What is surprising, is that God disagrees.

Continue reading “Narrow-minded? Think Again!”

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Defective Lighthouses

lighthouse-2372004_1280In 1970 the teenage son of a Pastor from California emerged triumphantly from the basement of The Pentecostal Tabernacle church. His family was scheduled to sing there that evening and realized they needed more material. Ronnie had excused himself for several minutes and returned carrying a trail of toilet tissue. On that unceremonious paper, were the lyrics to a brand-new song titled, “The Lighthouse.” After a little refinement in collaboration with his brother Kenny, the song was first recorded by The Happy Goodman’s and later by Elvis Presley.

Since that time, thousands of groups and soloists around the world have performed the song – including me. Although Ronnie Hinson has written many chart busting songs since that time, none have reached the awards, accolades and success of “The Lighthouse.”

Continue reading “Defective Lighthouses”

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Exposed!

wellWhat was the woman thinking as the Jewish man moved closer to her? She knew that Jews considered her kind untouchable merely for their ancestry. Her personal secret life took her discomfort and shame to an even greater level. As he opened his mouth to speak, she was most certainly expecting some kind of put-down or curse. Instead, he asked her for a drink of water.

What was the woman’s attitude? Was she merely surprised by the unprecedented request, or was she belligerent at the audacity of a man – from a group of people known for always looking down on her race – asking her to serve him?

Continue reading “Exposed!”

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Truth is Only True When Its True

Multiethnic group of thoughtful people with laptops sitting and thinkingOne of the most notorious contributions of post-modernism to our time in history is the supposed relative nature of truth. By this argument, there should be no colleges or universities teaching cultural relativism, since – according to their espoused philosophy – life has no meaning and truth is at best unknowable or at worst non-existent.

Taking these premises to their logical conclusion, college, teaching, study and even the professors themselves are all meaningless. The very statement, “truth is relative,” would be relative. The statement, “there is no meaning,” would by its own subjective rules be meaningless.

Continue reading “Truth is Only True When Its True”

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Is Truth Dead

IsTruthDeadLast month, Time Magazine revisited their 1966 cover design where they asked, “Is God Dead?” This time the question, in the same red lettering on black background, was, “Is Truth Dead?” It is obvious to most of us that the execution of God by our culture would inevitably lead to the disappearance of truth.

Indeed, the murder of truth didn’t take place fifty-one years later, it happened the very moment that culture rebelled against the Sovereign God who is the very person of Truth. Like cut flowers, however, the full effect of the pruning would take some time before the beauty of truth faded and decayed.

Continue reading “Is Truth Dead”